The evolution of hip-hop music and culture has impacted the visibility of Black men and the Black male body. As hip-hop continues to become commercially viable, performances of Black masculinities can be easily found on magazine covers, television shows, and popular websites. How do these representations affect the collective consciousness of Black men, while helping to construct a particular brand of masculinity that plays into the White imagination? This theoretical article explores how representations of Black masculinity vary in underground versus mainstream hip-hop, stemming directly from White patriarchal ideals of manhood. Conceptual and theoretical analyses of songs from the likes of Jay-Z and Dead Prez and Imani Perry's Prophets of the Hood help provide an understanding of the parallels between hip-hop performances/identities and Black masculinities.

FEATURE ARTICLE content of the other and the overall rhetorical impact of the communication event itself. (para. 1) No. 3 November/December 2016 literacyworldwide.org FEATURE ARTICLE grounded in critical thinking. My essential questions included the following: ■ Why should young people tell their own stories, and how can hip-hop help us develop our storytelling skills?■ What are the elements of a first-person narrative?■ How can the use of hip-hop literacies make us better readers, writers, and thinkers?These essential questions were aligned with a listing of enduring understandings, including these:■ Understanding who we are and where we are from will assist in our connection to literature and hip-hop.■ First-person narratives allow us to reflect critically and deeply through writing.

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